124 SCIENTIFIC HORSESHOEING. 



the walk, though the candidate for the best honors must show 

 that he can go faster than a walk when necessary, but still main- 

 tain his legs in such a position as to enable him to exert the 

 maximum of his strength as occasion may require. A typical 

 instance may be selected from the Clydesdale family, whose 

 long continued use in the heavy soil of Scotland has caused him 

 to lift his feet squarely up, flex his ankle joints deeply, turning 

 the sole of his feet squarely up, and then, with a long swinging 

 stride, implant them on the earth again, indicative of his perfect 

 ability to carry or draw the burden to be thrown upon him. The 

 hocks of draft horses should not be carried too wide apart, for 

 that detracts from their power (resulting from muscular fatigue) 

 in the exertions consequent on heavy hauling. That the feet 

 of such horses should be strong and healthy, with firm hardness 

 of hoofs, will be readily inferred from a consideration of their 

 important, special uses as supports, from whence proceeds, as 

 the base of action, whatever there is of bodily strength or physi- 

 cal power to work or strive *" with might and main" within the 

 sphere assigned them. Yet how frequently do we see horses of 

 this class with weak, tender feet, marked by mishaps from care- 

 less exposure to irregular, hard, loose bodies upon which their 

 heavy tread may chance to fall, or lame from the lodgment of 

 flints and pebbles between the sole and shoe, to which the cus- 

 tomary method of shoeing greatly contributes by paring down 

 the sole and frog, and weakening the heel by opening up the 

 space between the angles of the bar and wall, and then setting 

 the toe and heels too high from the ground, otherwise removing 

 them too great a distance from the point of support, which tends 

 all the more to an excess of pressure upon the coffin-joint, as 

 well as to the fatigue of the nerves and tendon upon which it 

 rests, by the distention they undergo at every step the horse 

 takes. It is not to be supposed that teamsters, traffic-men or 

 farmers give their horses' feet the particular attention given to 

 the hiffher class of racing and pleasure horses, but they can most 



